The Wrong Voices: Finding True Life in Jesus

Years ago in London, a tourist was trying to navigate the busy streets near Piccadilly Circus. She had a map in hand and confusion on her face. A kind-sounding stranger approached and offered to help. He looked confident, spoke clearly, and pointed her down a side street, saying, “That’s the shortcut you want.”

Trusting the voice, she followed the path—only to realize moments later that she was being set up. She was led away from the crowds and into a dark alley where she was nearly mugged before someone else intervened.

She later said, “He sounded so sure. He even smiled. But he was leading me into danger.”

That’s the world we live in today. There are so many voices calling out to us—offering shortcuts, promising fulfillment, claiming to know the way to peace, success, happiness. But not all of those voices lead to life. Some lead to destruction. Some pull us off the path.

Jesus put it this way in John 10:10.

John 10:10
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

The question today isn’t are you listening? It’s who are you listening to?

You see, the offer that Jesus makes to us, His sheep, is a life that is full and free.

Let’s read John 10:10-18.

John 10:10-18
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Today we will look at five truths about the Good Shepherd that leads us to Abundant Life.

Now, before we get started, let me share with you the meaning of Good.

DEFINITION: GOOD – COMPETENT, EXCELLENT, MORALLY ACCEPTABLE.

•THE HEBREW EQUIVALENT IS TOV…the word used when God created and said it was “Good.”

Jesus’ claim here is that He is the morally acceptable, competent, excellent shepherd to His sheep. What does that mean and what does that entail.

I’m going to give you five truths from this passage.

Jesus as the Good Shepherd…
1.Does not lose, but finds His sheep.

I.Jesus as the Good Shepherd, Does not lose, but finds His sheep.

Let’s back up in the chapter and see something that we saw last week.

John 10:2-4
But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

Last week we saw this image:



In this type of pen, the shepherd would lay down in the opening to keep the sheep from going out. They could only go in and out as allowed by the one laying in the door.

But there were also other types of sheepfolds where they were kept by a gate keeper.



Now, sometimes the person at the gate was a hired hand. They would stay there to make sure nothing got in or out of the gate and that the sheep were safe.

This one would be the one the shepherds would come to go get their sheep out to take them out into the fields to graze. They would show up and call their sheep and their sheep would come to the shepherd and he would lead them.

Sometimes in leading their sheep, a shepherd would notice that one of his sheep had wandered off. They don’t have great eye sight…they simply wander away, following what is right in front of them.

Now, knowing this, back up into John 9. The miracle that Jesus has just performed is the healing of a man born blind. The disciples ask him, “Who sinned that this man would be born blind?” And Jesus responded with something like, “No one, but that God might be glorified.”

He then heals him and it’s incredible!

And then the Pharisees can’t handle it. They find the man, track him down, and interview him. They interview his parents, and they defer back to him. So, they interrogate him a second time.

And he responds to their interview with these words:

John 9:25
He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

After this, they kick him out of the synagogue…all because he was blind, and now he can see!

Now, look at how Jesus doesn’t lose, but finds his sheep. Look at what it says in John 9:35.

John 9:35
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

I love these first 12 words:
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him…

Jesus heard and Jesus went.

This second movement toward this man wasn’t to heal his blindness. He could now see. And now that he could see:
•he could work.
•He didn’t have to beg.
•He could find a wife,
•start a family,
•go out on his own.

If it is left right there, it’s an amazing story, because externally, he had been set free.  What more did Jesus need to do for him?

But notice what Jesus asks him.

“Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

There was more to give him. And Jesus went to him and opened his eyes further by rescuing him out of true darkness.

John 9:36-38
36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

Jesus went to him twice, to open his eyes to the world around him, and to reveal himself to him.

Matthew 18:12-13
12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.

EARL PALMER, IN HIS BOOK ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, CALLED, THE INTIMATE GOSPEL SAYS:

JESUS IS THE SHEPHERD WHO DOES NOT LOSE HIS SHEEP. WE HAVE WITNESSED THIS SHEPHERD SKILL OF JESUS IN THESE OPENING CHAPTERS. JESUS FOUND NATHANNAEL; HE FOUND THE WOMAN AT THE WELL; HE FOUND THE LONELY MAN AT BETHESDA; HE FOUND THE YOUNG MAN BORN BLIND.”

He is the shepherd who does not lose His sheep.

And the testimony of us, his sheep is, “I was lost but now I am found. I was blind but now I see.”

What an amazing shepherd He is!

The second thing we see here with Jesus…

Jesus as the Good Shepherd…
1.Does not lose, but finds His sheep.
2.Sacrifices Himself for the good of His sheep.

II.Jesus as the Good Shepherd, Sacrifices himself for the good of his sheep

Remember, the proclamation of the Good Shepherd – “I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Notice what it says of what the Good Shepherd does for us.

John 10:11-13
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

Remember with me the definition of good. To be good is to be competent, excellent, and morally acceptable.

Now, to you and me, we don’t engage in the agrarian life all that much, unless you are in FFA. Right? We live in the heart of the fourth largest city in the U.S.

But the Bible is full of a shepherd motif.

In the Old Testament, we see the declaration that the Lord is Israel’s Shepherd -- Psalm 23:1.
We also see this in Psalm 80, Ecclesiastes 12, Jeremiah 31, and Isaiah 40.

Let me show you Isaiah 40:11.

Isaiah 40:11
He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
    he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
    and gently lead those that are with young.

Notice Psalm 80:1-2.

Psalm 80:1-2
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
    you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.
2     Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up your might
    and come to save us!

This is a prayer to the Shepherd of Israel who is enthroned upon the cherubim. He is the one who led Joseph like a flock and the request is to come and save us!

Now, the word Good is not like our word good. Our wood good seems to be just a little above adequate.

In the Hebrew language, good, or tov, was the excellent standard.

By saying He is the Good Shepherd, the “Tov” Shepherd, He is equating himself with the Shepherd of Israel.

And what has this Shepherd come to do?
He has come to save us, just as the Psalmist prayed in Psalm 80.

And here is what is so amazing. The Good Shepherd came to save us by becoming a lamb…a perfect, spotless, Passover lamb.

He is the morally excellent one. He is the one with out any blemish. And He offered himself by laying down his life for the sheep.

Notice this truth in Hebrews.

Hebrews 9:11-15
11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

What the writer of Hebrews is doing here is explaining the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross with Old Testament imagery, as if he walked, as the high priest into the most holy place and instead of providing a lamb or a goat, or a bull as a sacrifice, he offered himself as the perfect, once for all sacrifice for sins.

So, the Good Shepherd became the Perfect Lamb, laying down his life for his sheep, bringing to us abundant life because my sins have been forgiven.

The third thing we see her is this…

Jesus as the Good Shepherd…
1.Does not lose, but finds His sheep.
2.Sacrifices Himself for the good of His sheep.
3.Knows His sheep intimately.

III.Jesus as the Good Shepherd, Knows His sheep intimately

Look at John 10:14-16.

John 10:14-16
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

The word, “know,” here is more than head knowledge. The word carries with it the meaning of experiential knowledge.

Look at this amazing statement – “I know my own and my own know me.”

Then he says, “just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.”

This is a love based, perfect relationship.

So, the promise of Jesus is a promise of relationship, where the promises of God are yes and amen! In other words, it is through my relationship with Jesus that:
a.I have a relationship with God the Father
b.That I know and experience the love of God in Christ
c.That I receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, who guides me into truth and enables and empowers my walk.

That’s why the Psalmist could say in Psalm 23:1…

Psalm 23:1
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

I am known and loved by Jesus. He sees me, knows me, and calls me his own. This gracious love settles me, allows me to rest, and gives me confidence.

Number 4…

Jesus as the Good Shepherd…
1.Does not lose, but finds His sheep.
2.Sacrifices Himself for the good of His sheep.
3.Knows His sheep intimately.
4.Leads His sheep.

IV.Jesus as the Good Shepherd, Leads His Sheep

Let’s go back to verse 3-4, then I want to look at verse 16.

John 10:3-4
3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

Notice the movement here.
•He calls his sheep by name – verse 3
•He leads them out – verse 3
•He brings out – verse 4
•He goes before them – verse 4
•The Sheep follow Him, for they know his voice – verse 4

Now, look at verse 16.

John 10:16
16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

This is a reference to the people from all the nations being saved, as the Scripture promises that people from every nation, tribe, and tongue, will be gathered at the throne of God.

Jesus will bring them…They will listen to his voice…he will lead them and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

The Good Shepherd is the Greatest Leader. And as a result, I am not alone, but I am led at every turn.

Notice this leadership in Psalm 23.

Psalm 23:3b-4
He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

They lyrics of that great old hymn by Joseph Gilmore, say:
He leadeth me,
He leadeth me,
By His own hand,
He leadeth me.
His faithful follower,
I would be,
For by His hand,
He leadeth me.

Lastly…

Jesus as the Good Shepherd…
1.Does not lose, but finds His sheep.
2.Sacrifices Himself for the good of His sheep.
3.Knows His sheep intimately.
4.Leads His sheep.
5.Secures His sheep.

V.Jesus as the Good Shepherd: Secures His Sheep
Look with me now at John 10:24-30.

John 10:24-30
24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

Do you see the security you have in knowing Jesus Christ?

I love verse 28. It says, “I give them eternal life and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

This is the eternal security of the believer.

Friend, listen to me. If you know Jesus Christ, your home in heaven is secure. You don’t have to doubt anymore where you will go when you die. You don’t have to wonder.

If you know Christ, you have eternal life. No one will be able to snatch you out of His hand.

Do you know the Good Shepherd?
Are you allowing him to lead you?
 

This blog is based on the message shared by Senior Pastor Dr. Roger Patterson on Sunday, May 4, 2025 from our CityRise Church West University Baptist campus. Check out the full message below!